The impact of mining activities on the environment reflected by pollen,charcoal and geochemical analyses

This article presents results of a multi-proxy study of a fen deposit in the former mining district of Falkenstein near Schwaz in the Tyrol, Austria. The aim of the study in the framework of the special research program HiMAT (The History of Mining Activities in the Tyrol and Adjacent Areas – Impact on Environment & Human Societies) was to disclose the ecological impact of mining in pollen and heavy metal diagrams and to create a model combining the changes in palaeoecological proxies with historical evidences for mining. The application of this palaeoecological–historical model to prehistoric times allowed us to reconstruct the impact of mining and metallurgic activities in the surroundings of the fen during the last millennia. The results of stratigraphy, radiocarbon dating, LOI, pollen and micro-charcoal analyses as well as geochemical analyses of scandium, lead and lead isotopes validated by historical and archaeological data are hereby presented.     

Les Mains de Michel-Ange

This article focuses on a drawing, regarded by 18(th)-century amateurs as a masterpiece by Michelangelo, and serves as a point of departure to illuminate the amateur's fascination with the artist's hand. This self-referential representation of the artistic process attracted much comment among connoisseurs. As virtually all amateurs had their say on the meaning of ? les mains de Michel-Ange ? the drawing sheds further light on the objects of desire which informed the amateur's discourse and the mediality such discourse needed in order to join word and image.     

The Wages of Collaboration: the German food crisis 1939–1945 and the supplies from Denmark

The problem of limited food supplies left its mark on Germany and the Nazi regime during World War II. The Germans faced diminishing food rations and to a great extent had to rely on supplies from occupied Europe. To a small state like Denmark, with its precarious geo-political position, this turned out to be crucial. Thanks to its advanced agricultural production and fisheries and a generous German price policy, Germany was able to extract a maximum of food from Denmark without damaging the structure of Danish agricultural production. Deliveries culminated in 1943–1945, as Denmark supplied German big cities with 14% of their consumption of meat and pork and more than 20% of the Wehrmacht’s consumption, while Danish butter constituted nearly 9% of consumption in big cities and as much as one third of the Wehrmacht’s consumption during the same period. On this account, Denmark obtained a certain political freedom of action. In internal reports, German authorities in Copenhagen and in the Foreign Ministry repeatedly pointed to the fact that any attempt at changing the occupation regime in Denmark would rid Denmark of its democratically based government and jeopardize the abundant food supplies to Germany. The article argues that Danish food supplies to Germany provided the main reason why democratic Denmark was allowed to maintain its political system despite the German occupation.     

Girard and Heidegger: Mimesis,Mitsein, Addiction

In his essay “Peter’s Denial,” René Girard draws a parallel between mimesis and Martin Heidegger’s concept of being-with (Mitsein). In this essay I explore this parallel through a third, intermediate term—addiction—on the assumption that living in a world governed by mimesis, according to Girard, and living in the modus of Mitsein, according to Heidegger, can both be characterized as a kind of addiction. The clarification of the parallel between mimesis and Mitsein through this intermediate term may contribute to a better understanding of a central concept of Heidegger’s philosophy and, at the same time, bring into view the philosophical dimension of Girard’s mimetic theory. In my conclusion I propose Levinas’s ethical approach as a possible cure to the addiction to mimesis and being-with.